Review Blog

Nov 11 2015

Counting Stars by Keris Stainton

Hot Key Books, 2015. ISBN 9781471404634
(Age: Adult) Anna is eighteen and desperate to leave home and begin
her life. Her passion is to work in the theatre. While on work
experience she is offered a job in Liverpool and decides to take the
plunge and move there.
She shares a flat with characters who are also finding their way as
young adults. Each character has an intricate and moving story, told
well. The characters are well drawn and have the reader at turns
sympathising and cringing in embarrassment.
An underlying and important element of this story explores the
ethics and dangers of chronicling your life (and the lives of
others) using social media. Anna's very public diary is her way of
making sense of her maturing world, and she soon comes to find there
are consequences for her and those she reveals through her vlog.
This is a book about romantic relationships. It sensitively explores
the tricky issues of sexual harassment, inappropriate relationships,
abusive relationships and gay relationships. It is, however, the
explicit descriptions of the more intimate scenes in these
relationships that moves this book into the adult range. This is
unfortunate as the story holds much for, and is well suited to, the
young adult reader.
Linda Guthrie